Friday, February 28, 2014

Several weeks ago, I purchased a bunch of Zoya nail lacquers from one of their promotions. I was a few dollars away from qualifying for free shipping, so I threw one of their lip glosses into my basket. I did it for the free shipping and didn't really have very high expectations for the quality of the product. I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I ended up liking it!

Though the color is a little intimidating in the packaging, when applied, it gives my lips a glossy, rosy glow. It smells nostalgically yummy, like berry Kool-Aid. The texture is similar to MAC's lipglass, but I want to say that it's lighter and less sticky. The moisture is also very long-lasting. This is definitely my new favorite lip color for my everyday, low-key look. I'm actually excited to pick up a few more of these in different colors!

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Good evening! Actually, it's pretty darn late. BUT, I wanted to do a last minute post before I hit the hay. Remember this rose gold, smokey eye look I did several days ago?

Well, I received so much good feedback and so many requests for a tutorial that I decided to film one. Check it out:

So, the lighting is a tad darker than I would have liked, but it was really dreary and overcast when I filmed it and I use natural light for my videos. With my *extremely* limited technical knowledge of filmmaking, that was the best I could do.

The technique is completely intact, however, which is the important part. Hope you guys find it helpful in recreating the look!

Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Happy Tuesday, friends! I've gotten a lot of requests for a video tutorial for my eyebrow routine. School has been keeping me busy, so my tutorial to-do list has been backed up and growing! But, this was pretty easy so I thought I'd get it out of the way while I still can. Here you go! Hope you guys find it helpful! :)

Oh, I wanted to add that, though my brows look pretty light due to the lighting, they actually look darker and more natural in normal lighting.

Thanks for watching, guys! If you haven't already, please subscribe. ^_^ Knowing that you enjoy my videos and would like to see more makes me motivated to make more! :D

Monday, February 24, 2014

Vibrant lipsticks are so fun to play with! I especially covet the more eccentric colors. Unfortunately, lipsticks in more unusual shades, such as blues and greens, tend to be on the pricier side. Companies such as Lime Crime and Melt make beautiful, unconventionally colored lip products, but at $15 - $20 apiece, an offbeat collection of lip colors can quickly empty your pockets.

Anyways, I was browsing some indie makeup brands on Etsy when I came across My Beauty Addiction, or MBA Cosmetics. I was on a mission for cosmetic glitter, but noticed that they offered a product called HD Lip Paints. Sounds pretty intense, right? I was excited to see that they had such a huge variety of vibrant shades. They're also very reasonably priced and come in full-sized tubes or petite tubes, depending on how much you want to spend and how much you want to commit to a certain color. That, in itself, is pretty darn cool!

I decided to try out three shades: Grape Crush, Hypnotic, and Indigo.

Petite, slim tubes. Grape Crush, Hypnotic, Indigo.

At $5 apiece, I'm pretty happy with them. Grape Crush looks pinker in photos for some reason, but it's a very pretty shade of violet and is probably the most "normal" of the colors I selected. Hypnotic is the most intensely opaque of the three. I'd consider it a good alternative to Lime Crime's No She Didn't if you don't feel like dropping $18. All colors are fairly faithful in real life to the on-screen representation from the company's site. It's pretty trippy seeing Indigo on in person, beautiful color, though a little more challenging than the other two to apply in an even coat.

Still, I'm tempted to pick up the yellow and some of the greens, as well, from their collection. The formula is incredibly creamy and not at all drying like many opaque lipsticks. Removing Grape Crush and Hypnotic wasn't really a problem and Indigo wasn't so bad, though it did leave a raspberry-colored stain. I can't really tell you much in terms of wear. I sort of swatched, photographed, and removed since I was going out and these didn't seem appropriate for the occasion.

Anyhoo, here are the full-faced looks with these lipsticks so you get an idea of the overall effect:

Pretty groovy, right? The late afternoon window lighting makes my skin appear a little cooler than it normally would. That or the eccentric colors from the lipsticks threw off the white balance, I'm not sure. But you get the idea.

Alrighty, well, happy Monday, everyone! This was an especially fun post to do and I hope you guys enjoyed it! :D

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Hey, guys. Ever heard of that cheap-o cosmetic brand called Jordana? I've always noticed it in the bargain section at grocery and drug stores and have always avoided it because the products just looked so terribly cheap and "ghetto".

Anyhoo, I saw a bunch of their matte lipsticks on sale at my local grocery store the other day and thought it would be fun to just give it a try. What'd I have to lose? They were marked down to $1 from $1.50. I picked a bright, red-orange shade called Tangerine Tango.

I was completely floored by the quality of this lipstick! The color is richly pigmented and opaque, the finish is a creamy matte, the scent is reminiscent of M&M's, and it still looked great on my lips when I removed it 7 hours later, with just some slight fading and feathering (my bad, I didn't use any lip liner). I never had to touch up and I didn't find that it was overly drying for a matte formula. For just $1 apiece, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go back and purchase them in every color available.

A little bit of overkill with the electric, metallic blue eyeliner. Lol. Orange and blue were my high school colors, coincidentally.

I used the Naked palette for this look and accented with NYX Studio Liquid Liner in Extreme Blue, another cheapy-but-goody product that I love!

Full face product list:

UD Naked Skin liquid foundation - 5.0

ELF Clarifying pressed powder - Honey

Etude House Drawing Eyebrow pencil - gray/brown

UDPP - Eden

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil - Milk

UD Naked palette

NYX Studio Liquid Liner - Extreme Blue

Sugarpill eyeshadow - Velocity (lower lash line)

ELF liquid eyeliner - black

Maybelline Full N Soft Waterproof mascara

Ardell #403 eyelashes

ELF Studio blush - Twinkle Pink

Jordana Matte lipstick - Tangerine Tango

Hope everyone's having a fantastic Saturday! It's sunny and warm out right now, but I'm stuck inside all weekend working hard on my grad project. XD

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Happy hump day, all! Just wanted to post a quick EOTD. Did my one of my smokey, go-to looks with a pop of teal:

Product list for this look:

Etude House eyebrow pencil - Gray/Brown

UDPP - Eden

UD 15 Anniversary Palette

ELF liquid eyeliner

Ulta Eye Crayon - Black Tie

Maybelline Full N Soft Waterproof mascara

Ardell Demi Pixies

Oh, I'm also using a new glitter called Chicklets, by Eye Kandy Cosmetics. It's really neat! You get a jar of fine, cosmetic loose glitter and a bottle of glitter adhesive solution. You dip an eyeliner brush into the solution, pick up a little loose glitter, and brush on wherever you want to sparkle. I love it! you can apply as sparse or dense as you like and it lasts all day without fallout. I can't wait to show you guys more glitter experiments! :)

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Good morning, everyone! I thought I'd share some neutral, outer V shading that I did on my eyes yesterday. Outer V is one of my favorites, but I've always found it difficult to do because of my eye shape. I understand that the outer V is different for everyone and I think I've finally found the proper way to define it for myself.

I consider it a sophisticated look that requires intermediate skill. I'd like to eventually do a tutorial for it, though my workload is getting a little heavier since we're in the middle of my school term and I do have two other tutorials that I'd like to complete on my to-do list before jumping on this one, but it'll happen!

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Goodness, I can't believe I haven't posted for a few days. It's been a busy Valentine's Day weekend. :)
Anyhoo, lazy post today. I just thought I'd share some images of a glittery, mint-green, outlined, winged eyeliner today. (that's a mouthful) I've been seeing it here and there and wanted to try it. Other makeup enthusiasts have mentioned that it's a challenging look…and they weren't kidding! It requires a lot of precision and touching up in order to look passable.

I'm loving this glitter adhesive!

I didn't experience ANY glitter fallout!

Products used:

UDPP in Eden

NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk

Sugarpill Mochi eyeshadow

UD Naked 3

Eye Kandy Cosmetics Liquid Sugar glitter adhesive

My Beauty Addiction glitter in Melon

ELF liquid eyeliner

Ulta Eye Crayon in Black Tie

Maybelline Full N Soft Waterproof mascara

House of Lashes "Tigress" eyelashes

As pretty as this looks, I don't think I'll attempt it again in the near future. Too much work for something that appears so simple. It was definitely an experience.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Hey guys! Took a break from my usual, flamboyant looks and did a rose gold, smokey eye the other day. More subdued in color, for sure, but no less pretty, I think. I love using my face as a canvas for creativity, but I feel my best when I wear makeup that makes me feel more like myself. :)

Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Hey guys! I'm really excited to share my video tutorial on how to do a rainbow gradient eyeliner! I was inspired by another beauty blogger that did this a couple years ago, but I didn't have the skill at the time to recreate the look. I felt confident enough the other day, so I decided to go ahead and try it out. I felt that I was pretty successful in being able to achieve it.

Since I spent a lot of energy working on this tutorial, I won't waste any more words in this post. Instead, I invite you to watch! :)

Monday, February 10, 2014

I'm sure most of you are familiar with the practice of foiling eyeshadows, that is, combining powder eyeshadow with some sort of liquid mixing medium in order to intensify color. I've always been mildly curious about it, however, not so much so where I really experimented with it. I was happy with my pressed and loose pigments over eyeshadow primer. However, after visiting Ulta the other day and playing around with Stila's Magnificent Metals Foil Finish eyeshadows, I was amazed at the idea of painting on eye color in an even, vibrant, opaque sheet.

Unfortunately, the $32 price tag per color caused me to balk. They were gorgeous, to be sure, but makeup enthusiasts have been foiling long before Stila came out with their Magnificent Metals collection. They were selling a large bottle of foiling medium alone for $20. I hear MAC also makes an effective, highly-rated mixing medium as well. However, I still wanted to explore other options, thus doing a Google search which brought me to La Femme's Cake Eyeliner Sealer, which sells for about $3.50 a bottle, $6-$7 if you're purchasing online which includes the cost of shipping.

The price was right for me! I bought my bottle at www.ballbeauty.com. They're located in Los Angeles and I received my bottle very quickly. I'm not sure how it compares to the more expensive mixing medium, but, as you can see, it was very effective in amping up the intensity of my loose pigments, some of which have been collecting dust for years! Here are the swatches, foiled vs. dry.

The bottle is about half an ounce, but you literally only need ONE drop to create enough pigment mixture for both eyes. It's amazing! This little guy is going to last me years!

I haven't used any of the more expensive options and maybe I'll try one of these days, but I'm pretty happy with this one for the time being. I've experimented for 2 days and have received extremely favorable results:

does not irritate the eyes

does not crack or flake

lasts with 100% intensity and vibrance for 12+ hours (pretty much doesn't come off until I'm ready to take it off at the end of the evening)

I've been doing some pretty cool things with this stuff…can't wait to show you guys!

Sunday, February 9, 2014

Hey guys! So, you've probably seen this look on me a few times in the past. It's one of my favorite eyeshadow looks because it's easy, requiring only a handful of products, but also manages to stand out.

Product list:

Buxom Stay There eyeshadow in Pug

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Tenacious Teal

Kate Super Sharp pen eyeliner in BK-1

Maybelline Lasting Drama gel eyeliner

Maybelline Full N Soft Waterproof mascara

Ardell #120 eyelashes

I paired these bold eyes with an equally loud lip for an electrifying effect.

Nothing like a bit of color to brighten a cold, rainy weekend! Check out my YouTube video to recreate this look.

I hope you like the video and don't forget to subscribe. :) Happy Sunday, everyone, stay warm and dry!

Saturday, February 8, 2014

Due to a kind request the other day when I featured my LORAC Pocket Pro Palette, I made a YouTube tutorial on one of my favorite smokey eye looks. In fact, it IS my go-to smokey eye.

The reason why I love outer-corner shading so much is that I find it's extremely flattering for my eye shape. The horizontal gradient paired with graceful, winged eyeliner elegantly accentuates my small, almond-shaped eyes. I'm not trying to hide who I am, change my eyes, make them bigger. I feel that I'm just enhancing what I have. As much as I love my creative, colorful looks, this type of shading is my first choice when I want to feel most beautiful as myself. :)

I hope you enjoy the tutorial! Please like and subscribe if you'd like to see more like this! <3

Friday, February 7, 2014

I have countless lipsticks…I don't think I'll ever be able to use them all up in this lifetime. Unfortunately, I'm generally constrained to wearing one lip color a day. Though this changes up every day, I feel like all of my unused lip colors are being neglected…especially the less-than-practical ones. Thus, recently, I discovered that I good way for me to go through more of my lipsticks than usual is to make swatch diagrams of them on my lips. I get to kill 3 birds with one stone:

play with lip colors that I rarely use

exercise my graphic design/layout skills in Adobe InDesign

present swatches on lips instead of streaking them on my arm, giving everyone a better idea of how the color would actually appear when worn. This is especially important because the pigmentation on your lips appears much differently than on your forearm.

I was originally tempted to purchase these because I heard that they were very similar in color and quality to Urban Decay's Revolution lipsticks…except at a fraction of the price. I was *this* close to picking up a tube of Anarchy when I decided to search online for dupes. I ended up running to the drugstore for Fuchsia Flash instead and liked it so much that I subsequently added Hot Plum and On Fire Red to my collection as well.

I adore all three colors, however, the most complimentary to my skin tone would most likely be Hot Plum, the purple tint balances out my yellow undertones.

The formula is light, smooth, and plush while pigmentation is very saturated. I get fantastic color payoff from a single pass. Opacity isn't quite as intense as NXY Xtreme Lip Creams, but, then again, the formula isn't anywhere near as thick or sticky, if not at all. The fragrance on these is much more pleasant, as well, faintly like sugary frosting with a slight perfume-y taste.

I get about 4 hours of wear, 5-6 if I'm more careful about eating and drinking. They're pigmented enough to leave a stain behind after product wears off so, if you don't feel like reapplying, just smooth balm or clear gloss over for a pretty, effortless pout.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

I've been contemplating purchasing the LORAC Pro Palette, however, I do have two Naked palettes already, and thought that it would be redundant to purchase another nude category palette. I've been curious to compare the quality of LORAC's nude shadows to Urban Decay's however, and was excited when LORAC released their miniature Pocket Pro, which consists of three versatile, nude shades, two shimmers and one matte. It gave me the opportunity to test out the product while only spending $15. Here is a small variety of looks I created solely with shadow colors from my Pocket Pro:

The shadows are pigmented and extremely silky in texture…I almost want to say too silky as they were a little slippery to blend at times. In general, however, I found that they were easy to work with. I like the size of the palette, it's really easy to throw in your bag and go. I almost wish that it came with a double-ended mini brush, but I'm sure that would have upped the price.

I'm pretty happy with my Pocket Pro, I no longer feel the need to invest in the full-sized Pro Palette. This palette definitely gets high marks for portability and pigmentation. It's blendability leaves a little to be desired, I prefer velvety shadow textures. All in all, however, I don't regret buying this little guy.

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Hello everyone! It seems like a lip swatch kind of day, so I thought I'd share my small collection of NYX Xtreme Lip Creams with everyone this morning. They are described by the company as:

"…not a lipstick nor is it a gloss… a liquid lipstick that goes on with full Xtreme color and intense shine."

Extreme color? Check. Intense shine? Check. They don't feel as emollient as a balm, but they're not drying. They're slightly sticky, but not intolerably so and are fairly resilient, lasting pretty well through 4-5 hours which included eating, drinking, and blotting. I imagine they would last much longer if I were more careful. The only thing that bugs me is the slightly plastic-y smell, but I can overlook it.

Dolly Girl is a bright, blue-based hot pink which I love even though, according to the rules, this color shouldn't work with yellow undertones. Spicy is a bright, light red with a hint of pink. Absolute red is a deep, vampiric, blood red. Dolly Girl and Spicy applied very smoothly. Absolute Red required a little more work, as the red was extremely intense and pigmented, but the effort to apply was minimal and the results were totally worth it. I ended up wearing Absolute Red all day.

Hope you guys enjoyed the post! Thanks for reading and have a fantastic day!

Monday, February 3, 2014

Due to the overwhelming response I received regarding the Teal Ombre Cat Eye EOTD that I did several days ago, I decided to create a video tutorial which illustrates the technique that I used to achieve the look.

This type of shading is flattering for everyone, but I love how it enhances my small, almond-shaped eyes. I've been doing this cat eye a lot, lately, with different color combinations.

In this video, I use a teal gradient, but feel free to use whatever color variation you like. Enjoy the tutorial and please subscribe to my channel, I would be ever so grateful! <3

I took a break from eyelashes because I wanted to be comfortable eating, drinking, and chasing after my adorable baby cousins! XD So, I am missing that extra oomph to my look, but I think it turned out alright anyway. :D

I was especially happy with my lipstick.

It lasted for well over 8 hours through eating and drinking without any feathering and very minimal fading. I never had to reapply and the color remained true in photos until the end of the day.

Hope everyone enjoyed lovely new year celebrations and, if you don't celebrate the lunar new year, I hope you had a fantastic weekend! Happy Sunday, all!